Located in Southeast Asia, Cambodia has an area of 181,035 km2 and lies entirely within the tropics. The Kingdom is a land of paddies and forests dominated by the Mekong River and Tonle Sap. Cambodia is a predominantly rural country with among 95% of the population practicing Buddhism. During the Khmer Rouge regime between 1975 and 1979 as much as 25% of the population are estimated to have been killed or died as a result of starvation, disease, or overwork. Currently, the population of over 17 million is concentrated in the southeast, particularly in and around the capital city of Phnom Penh. The Kingdom is an elective constitutional monarchy with a King chosen by the Royal Council of the Throne as Head of State. Driven by garment exports and tourism, Cambodia's economy has grown by an average 7.7% between 1998 and 2019, making it one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.
The Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) is made up of approximately 100,000 total active troops. Additionally, the National Committee for Maritime Security performs Coast Guard functions and has representation from military and civilian agencies. Australia, China, France, Japan, and the US are among those active contributors in supporting RCAF in terms of military equipment, training facilities, and capacity building. However, it has received limited amounts of more modern (mostly second-hand) equipment since 2010 with China as the principal provider. Australia and Cambodia work closely together to combat people smuggling and trafficking, irregular migration, child sex tourism, narcotics trafficking, fraud and terrorism.